Does Biden Have Anything To Say About The Idaho Student Murders — Or Only Tragedies Involving Guns And Gays?
The Idaho college students' deaths won’t help congressional Democrats push gun laws or score points with minorities or LGBT Americans.
President Joe Biden didn't wait very long to utilize the horrific Colorado Springs shooting to push his gun control agenda. Biden – who admitted that there has yet to be a motive established in the Club Q shooting in Colorado – declared, "We need to enact an assault weapons ban."
There were five people killed and another 18 injured in the tragic shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado around midnight on Sunday. The suspect, 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, reportedly burst into Club Q and began shooting at people. Two brave patrons at the LGBTQ nightclub subdued the gunman before more people could be harmed.
Colorado Springs police chief Adrian Vasquez said Aldrich used a long rifle in the shooting, and two firearms were found at the scene, according to CNN.
The New York Times reported, "Early reports indicate that the suspect entered the nightclub wearing body armor and began firing with an AR-15 style assault rifle, according to two law enforcement officials briefed on the shooting."
The investigation is in its infancy, and a motive has yet to be determined by authorities.
Biden issued a statement regarding the Colorado Springs shooting on Sunday.
"While no motive in this attack is yet clear, we know that the LGBTQI+ community has been subjected to horrific hate violence in recent years," the statement read.
Biden claimed, "Gun violence continues to have a devastating and particular impact on LGBTQI+ communities across our nation and threats of violence are increasing."
He cited the 2016 shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Biden added, "We continue to see it in the epidemic of violence and murder against transgender women – especially transgender women of color."
He said, "We must drive out the inequities that contribute to violence against LGBTQI+ people."
President Biden noted that the Colorado Springs shooter used a "long rifle."
Biden then pushed his gun control agenda that he has advocated for since 1994.
"We must address the public health epidemic of gun violence in all of its forms," Biden proclaimed. "Earlier this year, I signed the most significant gun safety law in nearly three decades, in addition to taking other historic actions. But we must do more."
Biden demanded, "We need to enact an assault weapons ban to get weapons of war off America’s streets."
Biden has a history of using heart-wrenching shooting tragedies to peddle his gun control agenda.
On the anniversary of the harrowing Parkland shooting, Biden called for a similar ban on "weapons of war."
"Today, I am calling on Congress to enact commonsense gun law reforms, including requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets," Biden said in 2018. "We owe it to all those we've lost and to all those left behind to grieve to make a change. The time to act is now."
Following two mass shootings in 2021, Biden made another demand to pass an assault weapons ban.
"I don't need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take commonsense steps that will save lives in the future," President Biden stated. "We can ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in this country once again. I got that done when I was a senator. It passed, it was the law for the longest time and it brought down these mass killings. We should do it again."
Last month, Biden pushed his assault weapon ban after the shooting in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“For the lives we’ve lost and the lives we can save, I took historic action to stop gun violence in our nation, including signing the most significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years. But we must do more," Biden said. "We must pass an assault weapons ban,” Biden continued. “The American people support this commonsense action to get weapons of war off our streets. House Democrats have already passed it. The Senate should do the same. Send it to my desk and I’ll sign it."
A suspect who purportedly gunned down his girlfriend and five members of her family was said to be angry that he wasn't invited to a birthday party, according to a report from BuzzFeed News.
The suspect reportedly opened fire on the partygoers on Sunday, killing at least six people before turning the gun on himself.
Authorities have identified the suspect as 23-year-old Teodoro Macias, who they said had a history of "controlling and jealous behavior toward his girlfriend," 28-year-old Sandra Ibarra-Perez.
Ibarra-Perez was killed during the party in addition to her brother Jose Ibarra, 26; her sister Mayra Ibarra de Perez, 33; Mayra's husband Melvin Perez, 30; Melvin's mother, 52-year-old Joana Cruz; and one of Cruz's children, 21-year-old Jose Gutierrez.
Three children under the age of 12 were inside the home at the time of the killings, but they were not injured.
According to the report, Macias arrived at the home on Sunday and shot his victims in "quick succession" before turning the weapon and fatally shooting himself.
A loaded handgun was reportedly recovered from the scene along with 17 shell casings and an empty 15-round magazine.
Colorado Springs Police Lt. Joe Frabbiele said that Macias did not have a criminal history and noted that while there were no documented incidents of violence between Macias and Ibarra-Perez, it was clear that Macias was attempting to "isolate her from her family" and "prevent her from attending family events."
Colorado Springs Police Chief Vince Niski told reporters, "At the core of this horrendous act is domestic violence. No family should ever have to experience this type of loss."
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said that the mass murder was a "terrible tragedy."
"What we have here is a situation where all these people were together. He apparently had anger directed at the adults and his partner, and the tragic consequences are unfathomable," Suthers said.
Police continue to investigate the devastating murders.